I am Helen Keegan, a veteran of mobile marketing, advertising and media since 2000. This is my diary and musings about mobile since 2004. I am part consultant and part events organiser in London, Barcelona & beyond (Swedish Beers & Heroes of the Mobile Fringe). I write here about mobile tech and media, and some other stuff too.

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Tuesday, July 31, 2007

20 hot trends in mobile gaming

Ooh, how I like a good list, and this is a really good one from the lovely folks at Mobile Entertainment magazine summarising the key points from the Develop Mobile conference in Brighton recently. Michael French has summarised Stuart Dredge's key points from the closing keynote and I've interpreted them below. See the full article for the original comments.

The 20 hot trends in mobile gaming are:

1. LoadsamoneyFolks are making money in this sector.

2. Local BrandsDoesn't need to be a big brand, but you need a brand (same with anything product or service you're selling IMHO)

3. Developers for SaleMergers and acquisitions happening.

4. Unified release datesSame release date for all formats of a game. (Makes sense to me).

5. Herd MentalityCompanies are copying other companies' successful game formats, and doing well out of it.

10. Casual CrossoverUsing game formats in other media is helping move folks on to their mobile variants.

11. New HardwareMore devices, improved accessibility.

12. 3D ImprovingIs 3D all that on mobile? Go read Stuart Dredge's comments in the full article to make your own mind up.

13. Going NativeA challenge as to who does what and who will win the development war.

14. Play TogetherWe're still not playing nicely together in the playground which is odd since online social media is huge. Seems this bit still hasn't been worked out yet properly on mobile.

15. User generated contentSome firms are letting their players upload content to personalise the game. I like this idea. The PC game Trackmania, which BeepMarketing did some marketing for a few years back, used exactly this concept. The idea was that you created your own racing track and then connected with other gamers over the internet to share and connect your tracks and enjoy racing on them. I don't like racing games particularly, but I really liked this one.

16. Social networkingCan the "stars" of social networks help promote and sell mobile games?

17. The Whizzy StuffWill the new stuff help sell mobile games, like wii style gaming on your phone?

18. MicropaymentsSeems more payment models are coming in because of the ability to manage micropayments.

19. Word of mouthDredge has some interesting comments on this topic.

20. We love journalistsCan and should editorial sell games direct since they're so important in promoting mobile games.